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Zeus met a woman called Alcmene and fell in love with her. She bore him a child, which angered Hera (Zeus' wife). Alcmene named the child 'Heracles', meaning 'glorious gift of Hera' in Greek. Hera was furious. So one night while baby Heracles was sleeping in his crib, she crept in and placed two snakes in his bed in hope of them killing him. She returned in the morning, to see that with his already great strength Heracles had strangled the snakes! Hera was astonished. She watched and plotted as Heracles grew up into a young man. He found a wife and had two children. Hera had an idea. She cast a terrible spell on Heracles and in the night he killed his wife and two sons without meaning to do it! When Heracles aroused from the spell he was distraught. He went to pray in a Temple and asked the Gods what he should to for forgiveness. They said to be forgiven he would have to go to the King Eurystheus and do the tasks he would set him, and that is where his story begins. |
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